The present invention is related to a system and method of regulating manual control of a vehicle during a sliding condition of the vehicle having an electronic stability program.
Electronic stability programs (ESP) are known and are being widely used in the automotive industry. An electronic stability program operates to stabilize or correct a vehicle in an out-of-control or a sliding condition during operation of the vehicle. An electronic stability program may include a traction control system, an anti-lock brake system, an engine torque control system, and/or a stability control system. Typically, an electronic stability program operates during a sliding condition of the vehicle to correct a driver""s oversteering or understeering of the vehicle. Once the ESP of the vehicle recognizes that the vehicle is in a sliding condition, the ESP applies a calculated amount of brake pressure on at least one wheel or wheel end of the vehicle, depending on the sliding conditions. The brake pressure serves to recover or correct the vehicle in an oversteering or an understeering thereof. This provides the vehicle with a better likelihood of correction from the sliding condition. As known, the brake pressure may be applied in a step or pulse manner based on the sliding condition.
Although current electronic stability programs for vehicles are adequate, improvements thereon may be made. For example, designers and manufacturers of electronic stability programs have been challenged in providing experienced drivers with an opportunity to manually compensate or control a vehicle in a sliding condition. Typically, a vehicle having an electronic stability program immediately activates a stability control system to correct a vehicle in a sliding condition without providing the driver thereof with an opportunity or time to manually correct the vehicle. In fact, a steering correction on a vehicle applied by an experienced driver during a sliding condition may cause one of the control systems of the ESP to activate more aggressively than if the driver had not counter-steered. In this way, the ESP would penalize with a more aggressive activation by the experienced driver for reacting properly.
The present invention provides a system and method of regulating manual control to an experienced driver of a vehicle in a sliding condition, wherein the vehicle has an electronic stability program.
The present invention further provides a system and method of regulating a driver to manually steer a vehicle in a sliding condition to compensate or correct for the sliding condition before an electronic stability program of the vehicle activates a control system to correct for the sliding condition of the vehicle.
The present invention further provides a system and method of allowing a driver time to manually control a vehicle having an electronic stability program in a sliding condition before the electronic stability program activates a control system to correct the vehicle.
The present invention provides a system and method of adjusting an original ESP threshold of an electronic stability program for a vehicle when the vehicle is in a recoverable sliding condition.
The present invention provides a system and method of allowing manual control for a compensating driver of a vehicle during a sliding condition of the vehicle having an electronic stability program which uses a control system. The system and method allow a driver to manually control the vehicle within a time period before the electronic stability program re-determines whether the vehicle is manually controllable. The method includes recognizing the vehicle in a sliding condition and determining whether the vehicle is manually controllable in the sliding condition. The method further comprises adjusting the electronic stability program, if the vehicle is determined to be manually controllable. When the vehicle is determined to not be manually controllable, the method activates the control system to control the vehicle. Then, the electronic stability program applies a compensated brake pressure on one or more wheels or wheel ends based on the activation of the control system.